Posted by BrendaTX on 2/25/05 9:57am
Msg #22404
Texas Professional NSAs wanted for Texas Notary Network
Texas *Professional* NSAs who are Business Minded Individuals:
If you are interested in networking (emphasis on net*WORKING*) with other notaries in Texas, please consider joining the following Yahoogroup:
http://yahoogroups.com/group/texasnotarynetwork
Once you are admitted, please enter your information into the contact and coverage database.
Currently we have about 20 members. I am the creator and moderator of the group and I have the following goals:
+Creating a network of Independent Professional Notaries in Texas who will be aware of issues that affect our industry
+Take on the job of working with our neighboring notaries to set our fees at a rock bottom line and sticking to them
+To create a complete and comprehensive Texas Notary Network Membership Database List with counties we cover
+ To use the above as a network marketing tool. This list will have added value to those who hire notaries for loan signings in Texas.
+Ultimately, to find at least one NSA to cover each of our 254 counties.
+MARKETING - Use the Network Membership List for Exponential Marketing through the Network
(For instance, an easy example: If there are 50 members with 10 good clients each, and each of us agreed to send our network membership list to our clients 2 times a year that would mean that most of us would get on the desk of the right person 1000 times = 50 x 10 x 2.) This does not mean revealing your good clients -- you would send them privately, but you will agree to do so on your honor, or it will not work.
-->We will also agree to work out something so we will not send our direct competition to our good clients, or perhaps find partners to refer one another to and pay a small referral fee. I don't have the details worked out, but I know the concept will greatly increase our exposure at a very low rate of cost.
-->****Think: Which do you think a scheduler would be more likely to hold on to - 1 business card, or a nicely done flyer with 50-100 notaries in Texas who are committed to excellence?
+Our group is to boost the exposure of individuals. No national, regional or statewide signing services will market themselves in our list except in the capacity of an individual who does signings within a set radius - This group is to give our network members a boost in individual contractor exposure and recognition. Only Texas Commissioned Notaries will be allowed to join the group. HOWEVER Regional/Texas SS owners will benefit from having a good opportunity to expand their notary database with network members.
+Our group will define standards for listed members to adhere to so that we have a quality membership list of NSAs. If you are new, I have no problem with that. However, I am unable to mentor all new notaries and I believe any newer notary who is listed must have access to a willing Texas mentor to run them through their first few signings to ensure the quality of our group.
That's why I said netWORK. I have mentored several notaries this way. I went over the docs on their first signings on the phone...both in Texas and thru the US. The job of keeping our membership up to standard must be shared. If I am going to mentor all the newer notaries, I might as well start the signing service and mentor my own new notaries while getting paid for doing so.
I have studied lots of information and talked to SS business owners in other states about getting better clients and negotiating better prices. I have come to realize that better paying clients want to avoid the hassle of hunting down the illusive notary and will pay more to avoid this.
My primary motivation is to get better fees and to do more business. I have always said I had no interest in being an SS and I don't. But, I will do what I have to do to get the income I plan to get -- I am determined.
So, just so I do not misrepresent myself: I am going to stay self-employed or die trying. But I am not willing to wait until someone calls me. And, I will not start working for $40/signing. To that end:
If this Texas Notary Network does not generate enough interest in the next month by business minded notary professionals committed to co-op, invite others, and to network effectively so that we can be a regional network of quality NSAs, in another two months you will see that I will stop attempting to network the Texas NSAs and have moved on to create a signing service. Either way, in the future, I plan to have more to offer the better clients I want to solicit. Then, I'll just call around until I find a notary like so many others do.
The way I see it is that either we can co-op our efforts and try to get a better position as individuals in a Network of Qualified Professionals, or I'll hire a bookkeeper and start representing myself as an SS so I can get the ear of better paying clients who will hand me $150 to take the notary problem off their hands. That way I can get more personal signings for myself.
I have not posted repeated invitations on GMN or NR because I believe if a Texas NSA has a focused aim and a marketing mentality like I do, they'll find the group and get their contact information into the database, as well as their coverage area so that this endeavor can be successful.
Look forward to hearing from you!
Brenda Stone
texasnotarynetwork @ texnotary.com
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Reply by BrendaTX on 2/25/05 11:06am
Msg #22419
Thank you all for your encouragement.
The most powerful enemy in our business is distrust and our fear of networking with our competition.
If we don't talk to our regional neighbors we will unknowingly stab each other in the back and eventually kill our own industry by fearing our colleagues. It's like a cancer eating us up from the inside out.
An old technique is being used on us. It's called divide, conquer and isolate. That way you can fool a lone individual with conflabulations and gaslighting. You cannot blame the middle man for making a profit on a needed service.
My favorite: But all other notaries do it for this!!!
Another: Every other notary in the US will [illegal act]...why won't you???
It is our own personal fault if we do not establish a support network of others to consult with within our own states where we have similar interests/issues/laws/clients.
Slarty - You might want to call BeccaFL because she's posted info about determining lowest fees among notaries in FL.
The other day I spoke with a notary in another state who is setting up a referral network whereby they pay each other a small referral fee. Partnering up like that is one of the only ways that our fees will level out rather than continue to plummet.
One other bonus of having exposure to other Texas Notaries is smoking out the slow paying clients. My *dream*-- if they hurt one Tx notary on a fee, they are likely not going to get another notary in Tx to take a signing until it is made right.
Communication about the pitfalls of our business is mandatory for success.
What I have finally learned is that certain title companies will not speak to *one single* notary about getting work. However, they have no problem with hooking into a regional signing service, and I know of one situation for certain where a well-known title company will hire notaries and cancel them without a second thought. However, I also know they have worked out a policy of paying a cancellation fees to at least one SS...but the lone notary never knows this can happen. There is power in numbers, folks.
Think about that...
*********
This kind of undertaking would be what I would have believed my association and membership fees should be underpinning.
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Reply by Ernest_CT on 2/25/05 11:02am
Msg #22415
Brenda, you might want to ask HisHughness or Paul ...
... about the legal ramifications of discussing/setting fees. It MAY be one thing to discuss fees generally on this board (and others), but banding together to set fees for a particular geographic area....
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Reply by BrendaTX on 2/25/05 11:12am
Msg #22424
Re: Brenda, you might want to ask HisHughness or Paul ...
Yep. Seems like I have heard that before. I will find out about the definition of price fixing.
I'd be happy enough to say I accept every assignment for exactly what my state notary fee is set at, plus a reasonable fee for at the state's reimbursement rate.
That would be $6 x an avg of 15 = $90
(+ travel $)
After the leg. session, it may be $10 x 15 = $150.
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